The Eyeopener: Vol 57, Issue 2

A refresher on the TMSU’s previous election season as potential byelection approaches

By Gabriela Silva Ponte

The Toronto Metropolitan Students’ Union (TMSU) announced in the spring of this year that it would hold a byelection for its Board of Directors (BoD) in the fall.

This came after the student union’s initial spring 2023 election in March was deemed invalid according to the Elections and Referenda Committee (ERC) and was rescheduled for a new in-person, physical ballot election in April.

After several infractions of the Elections Procedures Code, the rescheduled April election was also cancelled, calling for a byelection in the fall according to an ERC statement released in April.

The TMSU has not yet made an announcement on the exact dates or times of this byelection.

According to section 4.17.1 of the TMSU’s bylaws, a byelection will be initiated in the month of September “provided that a vacancy occurs during the months of May, June or July.” Until the vacancy is filled, “the Executive Committee may designate an interim Director to fill the vacant office subject to Board approval.”

The current interim summer BoD has held office since May 1 and will continue to do so until Nov. 3, as previously reported by The Eyeopener.

But why was the initial spring election deemed irrevocably “compromised,” only to lead to the cancellation of a second, now in-person, physical ballot election and an interim summer BoD appointment? Read the quick recap below to find out more about the election.

Slates to note

There were a range of slates in the spring election. Here are some to take note of as we mention them later on in the recap.

Team Revolt was composed of vice president operations candidate Mahira Shoaib, vice president equity candidate Trevohn Baker, vice president education Abeeha Ahmad and vice president student life candidate Kareena Bhatia.

Team Ignite was made up of The Creative School director candidates Aditi Roy and Yanika Saluja.

The Dream slate included vice president operations candidate Nathan Sugunalan and vice president student life Shahram Farhadi.

Ayub and Brandon was a slate made up by Ted Rogers School of Management (TRSM) director candidates Ayub Mohammed and Brandon Lee Pack. Team Revive was fighting for the same position and included TRSM director candidates Vitaliy Yushvaev and Winston Ly. Lastly, Team Empire was created by Faculty of Science director candidates Aneesh Katyara and Muhammad Muaz.

The forum

A candidate forum for those running in the TMSU’s 2023 election was held on March 20. As previously reported by The Eye, candidates running for executive positions on the BoD discussed the past year’s financial mismanagement, privacy concerns for students after the previous vice president equity downloaded potentially vulnerable information and how to make campus more engaging for commuter students.

Bylaw breaches

The Elections Procedures Code states executive candidates can receive up to 35 demerit points and director candidates can receive up to 20 demerit points before being disqualified from the election.

On March 22, an election ruling was posted, stating Team Revolt accessed a TMSU member’s voting portal on their behalf by touching the student’s device, guiding them through the voting process, showing them who to vote for and how to confirm their vote.

As previously reported by The Eye, the individual then gave the student a card for two complimentary tickets to Backroom Comedy Club—a speakeasy comedy club located at 814 Bloor St. W. in Toronto—and asked for their names.

These three infractions accrued 25 demerit points for violating sections 8.3.7.2, 8.1.26 and 8.1.9.7 of the TMSU’s Elections Procedures Code.

Vice president equity candidate Aya Bakir accrued 15 demerit points on March 24 for endorsing four candidates on the same webpage, according to an election ruling.

This violated section 8.3.7.1 of the TMSU’s Elections Procedures Code, which states that “unauthorized Cross-Campaigning within TMSU elections” can result in up to 25 demerit points, as previously reported by The Eye.

That same day, Team Ignite accrued eight demerit points for posting a video to its Instagram page—which has since been taken down due to the end of the campaigning period—without the #TMSUVotes hashtag.

The ruling cited section 8.3.7.2 of the Elections Procedures Code, which states that candidates cannot engage in the “improper distribution of Campaign Materials.”

Section 8.1.36.4 of the Elections Procedures Code also states that “Wherever possible, all postings to all online platforms will tag the TMSU [Chief Returning Officer (CRO)] account in the post, and will use the hashtag #TMSUvotes,” as previously reported by The Eye.

Team Ignite denied these allegations, alleging it did use the hashtag and that it would be filing an appeal.

Student group endorsement and opposition

On March 22, the Faculty of Commu-

nity Services Society (FCSS) at TMU released a statement to its Instagram page urging its members not to vote for Team Revolt, Team Ignite and Team Revive in the TMSU’s election. The statement can no longer be accessed.

As previously reported by The Eye, FCSS alleged these slates had potential relationships to nine previous students’ union slates that ran between 2016 and 2022, including Impact, Spark, Unify, Candor, Rise, Adapt, Forward, Revolution and Levitate. The Eye could not and still cannot confirm nor deny these allegations.

At least one member from each slate denied the allegations.

“[Team Revive is] not associated with the TMSU’s past or present or the future. I don’t really like to involve myself too much with student politics like that, and I really am not that aware of what’s been happening with TMSU before,” Yushvaev said.

“[Team Ignite is] in no way affiliated with Team Revolt or any other past teams that ran in the election in the previous years,” said Saluja. “We both are completely new to the union with new ideas and [a] fresh mindset to bring an actual change that [has] not been properly made in the past.”

“None of our team members were a part of the university when most of these scandals took place,” said Shoaib, from Team Revolt. “Just because we share the same skin colour as the folks on the slates they’ve mentioned does not make us related.”

That same week, both The Eye and CRO Adrian Aziz were sent screenshots from Team Revolt in which the TMU’s Indian Students’ Association (ISA) endorsed candidates in the election.

The group endorsed Gerges, Mohammed, vice president operations candidate Angie Awadallah, international student director candidate Olivia Okoro, vice president education candidate Shirin Kalavi, vice president equity candidate Aya Bakir, vice president student life candidate Ozi Molokwu and The Creative School faculty director candidate Gus Cousins.

As previously reported by The Eye, section 8.1.31 of the TMSU Elections Procedures Code states that “Endorsement(s) of Candidates from Campus Groups is prohibited.”

The ISA told The Eye it was not aware of the rule, that it wished election information was more readily available and that when it found out this was against the rules, it removed the posts.

Aziz reminded student groups that they could face monetary fines for endorsing candidates.

More election infractions

Six rulings were posted by the ERC to the TMSU website on March 27, after the election had already ended.

Multiple non-slate candidates accrued two demerit points after having

their profiles shared by the ISA’s Instagram account.

Those individuals included Gerges, Bakir, Awadallah, Kalavi, Cousins and Mohammed.

Molokwu and Okoro each received one demerit point for benefitting from the ISA’s endorsement.

“Two candidates proactively contacted the Elections Team to distance themselves from the post,” the ruling read.

Section 8.1.31 of the Elections Procedures Code states “Endorsement(s) of Candidates from Campus Groups is prohibited.”

Gerges, Kalavi and Bakir also received 12 demerit points each after “a student submitted video evidence of a person accessing a students device” to vote for them.

Section 8.3.7.2 of the Elections Procedures Code prohibits campaigning to an individual in the process of voting, accessing student voting portals and cross-campaigning.

Presidential candidate Gerges also received four demerit points for “cross-campaigning with student societies” and the “misrepresentation of facts” in correlation with the FCSS ordeal.

On March 27, 20 demerit points were handed out to Sugunalan for “failure to comply with the spirit and purpose of the Code.”

Sugunalan had submitted a video of a person trying to engage him to vote, as previously reported by The Eye In the ruling, which is no longer accessible, the ERC said, “While this is a breach itself, the ERC has acknowledged that the Candidate Nathan Sugunalan was also trying to entrap the person by asking specific questions that would lead to the person breaking the [Elections Procedures Code] and TMSU By-Laws.”

Lastly, Cousins received 17 demerit points for pre-campaigning and for the use of animals while campaigning on March 27, according to a ruling that is no longer available.

Section 8.3.7.2 and 8.1.28 of the Elections Procedures Code outline these infractions.

Election results

On March 24, unofficial election results were released. Gerges was not re-elected for presidency, as previously reported by The Eye

According to section 9.2.2 of the TMSU’s Elections Procedures Code, an uncontested executive candidate “shall face a Yes or No vote.” Gerges needed over 50 per cent or greater number of the votes cast as “yes” to be elected.

Team Revolt took all the executive seats. Other slates, such as Team Empire, Team Ignite and Team Revive were also elected.

Team Revolt’s disqualification

All members of Team Revolt were disqualified from the TMSU’s election after accruing 60 demerit points, according to a statement from the ERC and as previously reported by The Eye.

In-person physical ballot election

The ERC released a special decision on March 30 for a new election to be held from April 11 to 13, following the disqualification of all Team Revolt elects.

The new election would allow all candidates who ran in the previous election to re-run. It would also follow an in-person physical ballot voting system, as previously reported by The Eye

That same day, the TMSU’s BoD carried a motion to deem disqualified candidates from the initial election ineligible to run in the upcoming inperson physical ballot election.

The motion was carried but not passed due to its contingency of consultation with the students’ union’s legal counsel on whether the board has the power to make the decision, as previously reported by The Eye

In-person election cancelled

The ERC cancelled the in-person, physical ballot election planned for April 11 to 13, according to a statement released that can no longer be accessed.

As previously reported by The Eye, the ERC noted in its statement that new evidence raised “significant concerns about the integrity of the entire election process, not just the voting process.”

The ERC’s statement said the TMSU was to hold a byelection in the fall, in accordance with the TMSU’s bylaws.

To find out more about the interim BoD, read more at theeyeopener.com.

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Students struggle to fnd housing as rental scams increase

She says some youths staying at the shelter were enrolled in university courses but had to drop out because their priority is finding housing.

The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC) reported that Canadians lost over 530 million dollars to fraud in 2022.

According to the Government of Canada, over 70 per cent of Canadians aged 25 to 44 have experienced a cybersecurity incident.

Nafeesa Sadeque Fayha, a second-year biomedical engineering student, said she came across several rental scams while searching for an apartment.

When Fayha inquired about a listing, the representative she was messaging told her that she needed to make a $1,200 deposit to view the apartment. After she refused, the representative told her to look around the outside of the unit because she was on a yacht with the keys.

By Anastasia Blosser

Students at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) say they are having trouble finding housing due to an abundance of online rental scams.

Housing scams are common in Toronto, according to the Housing & Residence Life Office at TMU. In their guide to finding a place, they advised students to keep their guard up, assess for suspicious activity and know their rights as renters.

“TMU’s Off-Campus Housing team has been available to offer advice and resources to help students navigate house-hunting safely,” Valerie Bruce, the director of Student Housing and Strategic Partnerships told The Eyeopener in an email.

Asmith Kaur, a third-year sociology student at TMU, fell for a rental scam in September 2022 that collectively cost her and her roommate $5,200.

Kaur found the listing on Facebook Marketplace and toured the apartment three times with the woman she would be renting from.

A week before they were supposed to move in, Kaur and her roommate noticed her WhatsApp had disappeared and their messages were no longer being delivered. “[We] started joking ‘haha, she might be a scammer’ and then she actually turned out to be a scammer.”

When they arrived on move-in day, a man answered the door and said it was his home. “We were shocked, we started crying,” she said.

Kaur said she had less than a week to find a place to live after the scam. “I saved up a lot of money which all went into the scam,” she said. “I worked so hard and now it’s all gone.”

After filing a report with the police, she learned that five other individuals had been scammed by the same woman.

The woman posed as a student living abroad who wanted to sublet her apartment, Kaur said. She told them to transfer two months’ worth of rent and a deposit as quickly as possible to secure the listing.

Kaur is from India and said international students are an easy target. “As soon as you tell somebody you’re new to the place, they try to upsell you.”

Muna Abdi is a community support and housing worker at Horizons for Youth, a shelter for at-risk and homeless youth in Toronto.

Abdi said rental scams are putting youth in a terrible situation. “When they go [to the properties], they realize they’re sharing one room or they’re in a den and they’re paying a really expensive amount.”

“I just stopped replying to her because it seemed like a complete scam,” said Fayha.

found an apartment less than a week before she flew back to Toronto.

“The next day, we sent him the documents and he said ‘I just got a better offer, if you really want this, you need to name a higher price.’ We just started freaking out,” she said.

Fayha and her roommate said they agreed to increase the price against their realtor’s advice. They are currently sharing a bedroom with two other people while they wait to move into their apartment in October.

Scams often target vulnerable groups, according to Atefeh Mashatan, the director of the Cybersecurity Research Lab at TMU. “A lot of students are struggling to find a place to live,” she said. “The attackers know this and they double down.”

Mashatan says it is safer not to trust suspicious items and that the vast majority of cyberattacks are preventable if users follow basic online hygiene. She advises students to use virtual private networks, multi-factor authentications and to exercise caution around unknown links or attachments

“I would attribute the rise in cyberbreaches to the fact that we’re putting more things online,” she said.

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Fayha and her roommate were asked to share their bank account details and social insurance numbers with landlords they messaged. Others asked them to pay six months to a year’s rent upfront. After a month of searching, they decided it felt safer to work with a realtor.

“We went through so many listings,” she said. “So many people just don’t want to rent out to international students.”

After a two-month search, Fayha

Students who become victims of online scams must report the incident as soon as possible to authorities such as the CAFC, said Mashatan.

Fayha says the scams seemed particularly predatory towards international students because many move to Toronto urgently looking for housing. “If we couldn’t find a place by a set time, we would have been homeless,” she said. “Once you’re desperate enough, you start even considering ‘should I just take the risk and send them the deposit and maybe it’ll work out.’”

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“If we couldn’t fnd a place by a set time, we would have been homeless”

Nafeesa Sadeque Fayha decided to use Google’s image reverse search function to look up photos from the listing she was interested in. Pictures from the bedrooms, bathroom and living room matched a property in New York.

JERRY ZHANG/THE EYEOPENER

Metro workers reach agreement days before school year begins

By Dexter LeRuez

After weeks of uncertainty, Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) students returned to school with the closest grocery store on campus, the Metro on 89 Gould St., being back open for business.

In July, Unifor Local 414, a union representing approximately 3,700 full and part-time Metro grocery store workers, released a statement announcing that union members had rejected a tentative settlement and would be heading to strike on the picket lines on July 29.

According to Samantha Henry, a worker at the Kennedy Road and Highway 401 Metro location, who was also on the bargaining committee during the negotiations, the initially rejected agreement would have seen a pay hike of $3.75 over the course of the four year and eight month long agreement.

However, workers were looking to see an immediate return to what Metro called “hero pay”, an incentive from early 2020 when Metro instituted a $2 per hour pay increase due

to the dangers of the pandemic.

Henry stated that workers were angry after the removal of hero pay. “They called us heroes, frontline workers, gave us this $2 pay raise and as fast as they gave it to us they took it away.”

However, any fears that the store would be closed when school restarted were put down on Aug. 31, when Unifor announced the ratification of a new collective agreement in a press release on their website.

In the release, the union stated that the agreement “sets a precedent for further grocery store bargaining.”

According to the release, the agreement will see workers receive a $2 pay hike in the coming months, with a total pay hike of $4.50 over the course of the agreement.

The agreement will also provide new benefits such as a part-time sick leave program, a new standardized work week for full-time workers and job protection against the implementation of self-checkouts.

With the job action over, Metro stores released a statement declaring that all temporarily closed locations

would reopen on Sept. 5.

Although the store on campus did in fact reopen just in time for the start of the school year, the uncertainty over the past month has led many students to think about how grocery stores impact their lives.

“That’d be a big blow to all the students,” said Raine Chen, a second-year geographic analysis student, on the possibility of losing the Gould Street Metro. “I feel like most students go to Metro quite often.”

For Chen, who lived in residence at TMU last year and had purchased a meal plan from the school, Metro acted as a late-night alternative when dining halls were closed.

“[Metro is] really convenient for me because sometimes when I was hungry, I just got late-night snacks from there, late-night drinks.”

However, for others who are not on a meal plan, Metro is the most straightforward way to purchase food throughout the school year.

“I have a friend who used to live at [the Daphne Cockwell Complex] in first year. He’d come down to Metro at Gould [Street] and just get his gro-

ceries,” said Chen.

Despite the convenience, many students find that shopping at Metro and other downtown grocery stores is putting a strain on their wallets.

“Because of inflation, the prices are really high right now,” said first-year new media student Xavier Vanderpool. “I feel like it’s pretty bad to buy groceries.”

As grocery prices rise, students like Vanderpool look for cheaper, lowerquality options while at the store.

“I [would] probably get one of the cheaper brands or if I see a price or a deal I [would] probably go for that before going for what I really want,” said Vanderpool.

For students like Vanderpool, their food sovereignty is at risk due to rising prices. Jacqui Gingras, a sociology professor at TMU, explains what food sovereignty is in more detail.

“Food sovereignty is when all people everywhere have the ability to choose the food that meets their cultural preferences,” said Gingras.

Gingras believes TMU can do more to become a food sovereign campus and points to Concordia

University as a school moving in the right direction.

“Concordia has things like free lunches or very low-cost lunches like $5 lunches; they have cafés where they sell the food that they’ve grown on campus. Their food provider on campus is not one of the big multinational corporations.”

As for affordable on-campus alternatives, Gingras points to the Mutual Market as an organization working to acheive food sovereignty.

“That is part of a revolution on campus,” said Gingras. “People donate items and then [the market] sells them at cost so [they] can buy food to also sell at cost.”

The market, which The Eye reported on back in April, “is a student-led, non-profit market fair held every other Wednesday in the Student Campus Centre lobby during the winter time and outside when the weather is warm.”

“It’s an actual part of the solution,” said Gingras. “If students are not able to go to Metro to get food, they can go to The Mutual Market.”

TMU men’s soccer resumes activity following previous suspensions

By Ilyas Hussein and Daniella Lopez

The Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) men’s soccer team had the suspension of all team activi -

ties lifted and were cleared to play their home-opener against the Nipissing Lakers at Downsview Park this past Saturday despite an ongoing investigation.

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On Sept. 4, the university released a statement through an email to The Eyeopener stating they had suspended all team activities until further notice as a result of “a report of serious and concerning behaviour.” The university did not confirm the details of the report or investigation.

However, on Sept. 8, TMU deemed the Bold eligible to play on Saturday afternoon. “At this time, based on the investigation to date, the university has determined that the home opener game scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 9 can proceed. The university continues to assess and address the situation as appropriate,” read the university’s statement to The Eye through email.

Per the updated statement, the university is conducting “a thorough and independent investigation” into the allegations.

Following TMU’s 8-0 victory over Nipissing, only two players, third-year midfielder Juan Pablo Delgadillo and fourth-year defender Brandon Barone, were made available for comment post-game for TMU. Bold head coach Filip Prostran also met with the media.

“To be honest, I’m not certain about all the details. I’ve just been focusing on preparing the team for these games. The investigation is obviously ongoing and we honour and trust the process,” said Prostran about the report made to the university.

According to Delgadillo, the university was made aware of the report “around a week ago,” which then resulted in the forfeited matches last weekend against Nipissing and the Laurentian Voyageurs. “[It] was when we were first off for training,

but that’s all I know,” he added.

Following the university clearing the team to play, the Bold found time for one quick practice before the game that was mainly focused on the upcoming matchup.

“What I told the team was ‘life is full of adversity… you [have] got to find all of the positives in every situation,’” said Prostan.

Coming into the season, the Bold had high expectations for themselves. However, with the ongoing investigation and the recent suspension, they were unsure if they were going to hit the pitch at all this season.

As a result of the forfeited matches on their opening weekend, the Bold were given automatic 3-0 losses to both Laurentian and Nipissing, per Ontario University Athletics (OUA) regulations. This put them at a 0-2 record—last in the OUA East division—to begin the season.

“With that week off, we didn’t know whether we were going to be out for the whole season or whether we were going to be out for the whole week,” said Delgadillo.

In their debut match on Sept. 9, TMU defeated Nipissing in an 8-0 blowout. During the game, after third-year winger Justin Santos slotted in TMU’s fifth goal of the afternoon, he proceeded to make an “X” symbol with his hands while saying, “Free the guys,” which seemed to be about the recent suspension and investigation. However, Prostran believes this isn’t the case.

“I think that’s something from last year, like an inside joke the team had from when we went to nationals,” said Prostran. “Nothing to do with this week. It’s something they’ve been doing for a while.”

Although the Bold can still play, members of the team are still unable to comment on details surrounding the investigation.

“I can’t speak on the investigation. I’m just really happy to be back on the field with the team,” added Barone.

TMU said they will not be providing any further comment or details regarding the situation until the investigation is completed to protect the “privacy, confidentiality and integrity” of the matter.

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TMU alum takes master’s project to the silver screen

Former media production student uses her graduate project and documentary, to amplify voices of the Kalinago Peoples of Dominica

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said Joseph. “So I wanted this to be their story, their authentic story from their mouth, which is why in the film, I did not narrate.”

Being of Kalinago ancestry herself, the multi-hyphenate had always been curious about the prejudice surrounding the Indigenous group. “There are a lot of stereotypes that have been put out there that are not exact…because we know how colonization works. It kind of puts out wrong messaging, so that [colonizers] can make themselves look better,” said Joseph.

Joseph’s popularity in Dominica as a media entrepreneur did remove the hurdle of distrust and apprehension from the community, she said. However, making a documentary during the COVID-19 pandemic proved to be, as she described it, “a gift and a curse.” While finding sources and conducting initial interviews online allowed for quick access, Joseph only had 10 days to film on the ground and about five days to edit.

some of the barriers that the Kalinago Peoples face on a daily basis. Having no access to a stable internet connection or drinking water for days at a time left her worried, she said.

“I want us to take our eyes away from that and focus on the issues and how we can help”

“[The issues] weren’t from the community but it was the stuff that was imposed on them [that created setbacks].”

For years, the lasting impact of colonial abuse towards the Kalinago people has been felt. According to the Caribbean Investigative Journalism Network, Hurricane Maria caused devastating natural calamities that destroyed the Kalinago villages in 2017. Homes were crushed, internet systems were ruined and goals of energy self-sufficiency were pushed to the side. The government’s prioritization of ecotourism over their Indigenous community also played an increased role in these barriers.

“There was a lot of protocol that had to be taken into consideration so that we’re not giving each other COVID-19,” said Joseph. “It was just a really strenuous process.”

Along with her team consisting of Nadja O. Thomas, Norris Francois Jr. and Sheldon Casimir, Joseph also had to work through

By Lynette George

In 2020, wrought with worry surrounding job insecurity brought on by the pandemic, filmmaker Jael Joseph decided to pursue a master’s degree in media production at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU). Just three years later, her graduate school research project would lead to her documentary debuting at this year’s Caribbean Tales International Film Festival in Toronto.

The documentary, Territory, follows three main characters who are Indigenous residents of the Kalinago Territory in Dominica. Throughout the film, they narrate their experiences living in a community severely impacted by colonial powers and modern capitalism.

According to the book, The Torrid Zone: Caribbean Colonization and Cultural Interaction in the Long Seventeenth Century, the Kalinago Peoples were spread across the Lesser Antilles for millennia prior to European colonization. Today, as per a profile on Dominica published on ReliefWeb, only about 3000 Kalinago Peoples remain today, existing primarily on the island nation. Highlighting the socio-political and economic struggles faced by them, Joseph’s

documentary showcases the connection be tween Indigenous language and land.

“My documentary is a piece of advocacy work that I did for my masters project,” said the Dominican-born entrepreneur, pro ducer and director, in a Zoom interview.

“I enjoy writing and telling stories that can inspire, stories that can empower and also stories where there is a call to action.”

Understanding that misrepresentation stemmed from colonial indoctrination, Jo seph said she took it upon herself to dig deeper into their history and culture for her graduating research paper titled, “Territory: Commonalities Between the Reclamation of the Kalinago Language and Connection to Land.” When it came to making an ac companying creative project for her degree, Joseph decided to pave a new path and pro vide the Kalinago Peoples with a platform to tell their own stories.

“Their stories have been told so incor rectly so many times by so many people,”

Now, for Joseph, Territory carries one simple message for viewers: “We could do better.” Joseph said she believes strongly that people should stand by their Indigenous communities and advocate for them.

“For a long time there’s been a gaze on this community and they’re exoticized,” she said. “I want us to take our eyes away from that and focus on the issues and how we can help.”

“Their stories have been told so incorrectly so many times by so many people”

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“I enjoy writing and telling stories that

If

Bill C-18 and Big Tech are changing journalism as we know it

Disclaimer: Though The Eyeopener usually steers away from interviewing journalism students, this story could not be written without their perspectives. As a Canadian publication, The Eye has personal stake in this story, however, this does not jeopardize the quality of reporting in this piece. Both writers are also employed by Met Radio, but as a volunteer-run organization at TMU deeply affected by Bill C-18, including them in the piece was essential.

Imagine you’re lying in your bed, scrolling through TikTok video after video, when you stumble across 15 seconds highlighting some crucial news about your home country. In an effort to combat misinformation, you go to a trusted media outlet’s Instagram. But, after scrolling through @cbcnews, @ctvnews and @nbcnews accounts, you fnd you’re met with an alert telling you that the content you’re looking for isn’t available in Canada. You go to Google and fip through news articles. You fnd there is a real crisis in your home country, but now you’re unable to see or share it on Instagram and Facebook. That’s what happened to Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) fourthyear journalism student Reema Najjar when she found out about Canada’s growing wildfres, now suddenly affecting Ontario, on TikTok days after the news broke this summer.

and the European Union decide to pass similar bills. This could, in turn, force Big Tech to pay up if they want to platform news content. “Both of those jurisdictions and the potential costs to matter are much higher than in Canada,” he said.

The bill may also be a “distraction” from the “big, big problems of journalism in this country,” Shapiro added. The greatest of these concerns is the lack of audience trust, said Shapiro. According to a June 2023 Reuters digital news report, audience trust in news in Canada has been steadily declining since 2018—falling from 58 per cent to 40 per cent in just fve years.

TMU’s School of Journalism calls itself “a worldclass leader in journalism education,” teaching students to produce and share their multimedia content digitally. Incoming and returning students are pondering how the school will be adapting to these new restrictions. Some working journalists, journalism educators and journalism students are concerned about viewership and readership, news accessibility, employment and the future of the feld at large. According to the university’s School of Journalism website, “Journalism is about holding those in power accountable and giving voice to the underrepresented.” How are journalists supposed to do so when their primary method of informing people is now gone?

ing your content for Facebook. It’s just simply not worth the time right now until we’ve got better visibility about how this is going to play out,” said Adamson. He teaches JRN 271, a mandatory second-year journalism course on boosting media techniques. Posting news on various social media platforms is built into the course. Adamson is planning to substitute the social media-centred assignments with broadcast-related work that increases the focus on the production of news and less on its distribution. “I’ve frankly always thought that broadcast was underplayed. And so that’s why I’m making the focus on broadcast a little bit more heightened in the second year,” he said. But, Adamson did not shy away from showing how, despite the changes he’s going to make, the entire ordeal has made him “so angry.” As he wailed his arms in the air and uncomfortably smiled, Adamson said, “It’s like asking for a cheap divorce. Divorces are expensive.” He added, “You can’t have that kind of depth of relationship that is so entangled fnancially and then pretend like it didn’t exist and get away.

Bill C-18, also known as the Online News Act, was tabled by the Canadian government at the House of Commons on June 21, 2023. According to the bill’s webpage, the Act was put in place “in order to enhance fairness in the Canadian digital news market.” Platforms that have a global revenue of over $1 billion per year, operate as a search engine or social media site and have more than 20 million average monthly Canadian users, will fall under the Act.

Ultimately, companies like Google and Meta—the latter owning social media platforms Facebook and Instagram—will have to pay Canadian publishers to share their news content. Though the Act will not come into effect until Dec. 19, Meta has rolled out restrictions that block Canadians from seeing news organizations’ pages on their social media platforms. Google has not yet put in place any restrictions and it is uncertain whether or not they will once Bill C-18 is enacted.

According to a 2020 General Social Survey on Social Identity, 95 per cent of Canadians aged 15 to 34 accessed their news content online that year. According to a 2023 Statista report, the leading online platforms used for news in Canada last year were Facebook, YouTube and Instagram—all owned by Meta or Google. According to Bill C-18’s webpage, these companies were profting from sharing news in Canada. Online advertising revenues in Canada were $14 billion in 2022—80 per cent of which Google and Meta pocketed. “While digital platforms earn billions in online advertising, more news outlets shutter each year, due in large part to a loss of advertising revenue,” the Act reads.

Ivor Shapiro, a journalism professor emeritus at TMU specializing in media law, said Meta pulling all news content in response to the bill was no surprise. According to Shapiro, Meta isn’t concerned about what this will cost them in Canada—the company is more worried about what will happen if places like the United States

Najjar, who has set many hopes and dreams in journalism, was “horrifed” when she saw news accounts on Instagram were restricted in Canada. Instead of seeing feeds flled with news, she was met with a blank screen with bold text that read “People in Canada can’t see this content.” Najjar’s emotions fowed through sadness and anger as she realized the primary ways journalists, including herself, are trained to engage with their communities had disappeared. As a Canadian news reader, Najjar felt concerned as she was no longer able to stay informed about issues that were impacting her and the environment around her, like the wildfres. “[Social media is] how journalists…maintain the humanity within their connections, within their audience. And now that’s gone,” she said. Najjar added how she remembers being told social media is “a part of the job” at TMU’s School of Journalism—yet, part of that job has now ceased to exist.

One of the School’s professors, Nicole Blanchett, recognized a similar issue to that of Najjar’s, alluding to the wildfres and the inability of those affected to stay informed. “As we’ve seen with the fres in B.C.,...we’re not able to share information with people through Facebook and this is a real problem,” she said.

Incoming frst-year journalism student Lauren Croth also echoed Najjar’s emotions when she found out about Meta’s content blocks. “It was a little bit scary to be honest,” she said. Croth expects a “weird transition” among her and her teenage peers who tend to rely on social media for news. “I worry that they’re not going to search out for news in other places,” she said. Croth hopes the TMU School of Journalism will teach her how to limit fake news and communicate with different communities on social media.

Gavin Adamson, a professor at TMU’s School of Journalism, can assure Croth will learn what she’s looking for. He points out how social media has been consistently “embedded” in the curriculum of the school. “No longer will we be talking about creating ads for Instagram or optimiz-

Blanchett will also be teaching some of the topics Croth hopes to learn in her frst-year—like Bill C-18’s impacts on audience engagement and “the amplifcation of good information.” Like Adamson, Blanchett believes social media is weaved into the journalism program. She teaches a mandatory frst-year multimedia news reporting class, JRN 105. She discussed an exercise where students can create a social media post to promote their stories for a bonus mark. Although the exercise isn’t actually posted on social media, it trains students to value readership in a digital age. Blanchett agrees with Adamson, the curriculum may have to change as new developments arise. “I think journalism has always had to evolve and to pivot and to fnd ways to connect with an audience. So I don’t think that is different,” she said. “I think it’s because we’ve become a society that’s so reliant on using social media to connect with other people, that even in terms of this profession, this is really impacting an important part of how we connect with our audiences.”

Najjar pointed to the School of Journalism’s innovation and ability to roll with the punches. “Overall, I feel like the innovation of our school and the innovation of young journalists will survive this very responsive and reactive place we are in journalism. Because that’s what journalism does. It learns to adapt and it learns to survive amongst the circumstances,” she said.

TMU School of Journalism Chair Ravindra Mohabeer said students can rest assured that Bill C-18 and Meta’s restrictions won’t “kill student journalism.” Instead, he said “it will just redirect the nature of how audiences receive journalistic articles and journalistic information. It will change the behavioral patterns.” Rather than think-

you’re reading this, it’s not too late

ing about how to write for the algorithm, journalists will now lean more towards writing what they want and what best serves their community, noted Mohabeer. He pointed to the school’s advantage of having some of the top journalism experts in the country as instructors. “Being in Toronto, we have the ability to work with large news organizations who have a different degree of stability, in terms of their ability to absorb and bounce back,” he said. And, to calm some of the students’ concerns, Mohabeer said the program’s main areas of focus will go unaffected, including detecting misinformation, disinformation and fact-checking.

has become very dependent on social media,” said Misri, who expects On The Record’s online traffc to drop dramatically. “This dependence on Big Tech—which basically doesn’t care about us—[is] really annoying,” she said. Before social media, news wasn’t instant—people depended on weekly print cycles and top-of-the-hour broadcasts to get their information.

it was just a threat,” she said. Schuetze remains optimistic that CanCulture will not be affected by Meta’s restrictions due to its minimal news coverage. The student team plans to tread lightly when it comes to posting future stories on social media.

TMU journalism alumna Mercedes Gaztambide is already working in the feld as a social presenter at CBC. She said there’s been some sort of hesitation on participating in opinionated conversations about Meta’s restrictions in the newsroom. “It was just sort of like, ‘this just is what it is, we just have to move forward,’” said Gaztambide. As she sat in her offce chair watching the story break that CBC news was no longer visible to Canadian viewers, she noticed the uncertainty in the room to move content to other social media platforms. Gaztambide noticed “resistance” in the CBC newsroom when it came time to shift gears and post their news coverage on TikTok. “I think the CBC is more used to working with Meta, like with Facebook and Instagram, compared to TikTok,” she said.

Artie Kronenfeld, the editor-in-chief at University of Toronto’s (U of T) student newspaper The Varsity, felt a creeping sense of anxiety following the announcement of Bill C-18 and Meta’s content restrictions. After the paper’s social media content was hidden, it became an “uphill struggle.” Accoridng to Kronenfeld, social media has led The Varsity’s news coverage to become more localized as online platforms allow organizations to instantly connect with niche audiences. “These last few decades, we’ve been really focused on trying to get stories that no other news platform, no other news site, no other organization is going to look for,” they said. According to Kronenfeld, The Varsity predominantly covered global stories before the rise of social media. Up until last month, U of T-specifc content was their bread and butter because students could access it at their fngertips through social media.

Misri said this may be an opportunity for journalists to fnd a way to detach themselves from social media and Google and allow for storytelling in innovative new ways. “We still need to get seen and read and heard,” she said. Misri plans to pitch that On The Record continues creating social media posts for stories to train journalists how to market their content despite not being able to see its effcacy. Many Meta-restricted student publications are pivoting to email newsletters, in-person outreach and other social media platforms like TikTok to connect with audiences. Some Canadians have also resorted to sharing screenshot images of news articles to bypass Meta’s new regulations. Journalists, novice and experienced, are using their personal social media accounts to increase visibility of their work and direct people to website URLs.

TMU is home to numerous publications, such as magazines, newspapers and a radio station, run by students covering what’s happening around them. Many of these organizations were restricted by Meta, on parts of the internet they heavily depend on. Now, their ability to share pieces that students work hard to produce has been severely limited. For some, the content block dampers how they fnd stories, voices and volunteers so they can continue fulflling their role of informing the campus community.

According to Angela Misri, an instructor at the School of Journalism and student newspaper On The Record, newsrooms are being forced to fnd new ways to get their content seen by people, or revert to old ones. “We spent almost 20 years building a marketing model that

For TMU’s campus-community radio station, Met Radio, the blow of the restrictions hit harder. According to station manager Elissa Matthews, the National Campus and Community Radio Association spent years lobbying for volunteer-based radio stations like Met Radio to be seen as legitimate news organizations. Matthews fnds it “ironic” that after all these efforts, Met Radio, whose content is only 20 per cent news-related, was swiftly added to Meta’s ban list last month. Matthews said being deplatformed has created barriers for outreach, volunteer recruitment, content sharing and community presence. “One of the things that we, as a student organization, offer is a platform. And then, if it feels like we’ve been deplatformed and can’t offer that, I think that’s going to be a negative experience for [contributors],” she said.

So, from here on out, you, journalism students like Najjar and other Canadians may not be able to read news content from trusted organizations on Instagram, Facebook and, soon, possibly Google as well. Whether this will grow the spread of misinformation, increase Canadians’ news fatigue or reduce Canadian news outlets’ readership and proft margins remains unknown.

There is still hope that Google will come to a different consensus than that of Meta—or that Meta will change its approach. But, while Canadians wait for that, journalism will pivot itself, yet again, to accommodate this new day and age. “I’m sure that [news] will look different. But I’m also sure that journalism will continue to be a cornerstone of society that people privilege and prioritize, it’s just a matter of where they’re looking and how they’re looking,” said School of Journalism Chair Mohabeer.

CanCulture Magazine, a Canadian arts and culture digital magazine run by TMU student volunteers, has not yet been restricted by Meta. Its incoming editor-in-chief, Mariana Schuetze, said the situation seems “unreal” and hopes the publication remains unaffected. “I didn’t really think they were going to go through with it, I thought

If you’re reading this, thank you. You may not be able to see this story linked on Instagram, but we’re glad you’re here. Journalism as we know it is changing but that doesn’t mean its role as a public service matters any less.

Bold men’s hockey eager and excited to make HOCO a hit

of the best goaltenders in the country. Alongside last season’s OUA top point-per-game player in thirdyear forward Kyle Bollers, the two players figure to play enormous roles in determining how deep the Bold can go in their chase to win nationals.

By Sam Beaudoin

While Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) students usually enter the campus store in search of an overpriced textbook for their new class, on Sept. 22 they will flood it with hopes of upgrading their TMU wardrobe ahead one of the school’s biggest events of the year: Homecoming (HOCO).

The campus will be filled with school spirit as hoards of students will be seen marching down Church St. towards the Mattamy Athletic Centre (MAC) to cheer on the men’s hockey team.

In a year where they’ll host the country’s best hockey programs at the national tournament in the spring, the team first have their sights set on HOCO when they will take on the McGill Redbirds.

sphere will just be a preview of what’s to come down the road.

The two squads are set to meet again for the first time since the 2021-22 Ontario University Athletics (OUA) bronze medal game—in which TMU came away victorious to move on to nationals.

“I think both sides will learn something about each other, some of that will be useful in the regular season and some of it won’t,” said TMU head coach Johnny Duco.

While the regular season is not slated to kick off until two weeks after HOCO, members of the team stand unanimous that they are not disappointed that HOCO is an exhibition game.

“Everyone elevates their game when you have a big crowd like that,” said third-year TMU forward Kevin Gursoy. “It’s a crowd full of people you go to class with, it’ll be pretty fun to play in front of them.”

The team views HOCO as an opportunity to display the high level of hockey that the OUA has in store in hopes of attracting more spectators throughout the remainder of the year.

The team is not satisfied with receiving an automatic berth in nationals and is approaching the season with the mindset of proving they belong.

Despite the matchup being an exhibition game, members of the team have had the date circled on their calendar for months and are incredibly eager to hit the ice in front of their TMU community.

“From a player’s perspective, it creates more excitement, helps you dial in a little bit more and get ready to put on a show,” said second-year forward Connor Bowie.

The festivities are slated to kick off at 3 p.m. with a pregame tailgate being held in Pitman Quad and the highly anticipated unveiling of the TMU Bold mascot just before puck drop at 6 p.m.

This marks the first time since 2019 that the men’s hockey team have hosted the annual homecoming game. With nationals just months away, the electric atmo-

With many preseason games scheduled in the month of September, players admitted the games can get a little dry, especially without many fans in the stands to cheer them on.

Despite TMU being a nationally ranked squad at times in recent years, they have struggled to attract student support. The Bold often find themselves playing in front of a fairly empty MAC.

The team urges the student body to come and support them on Sept. 22. Ideally for the Bold, the support carries throughout the entire year as they embark on their mission to lift the David Johnston University Cup on home ice at the historic Maple Leaf Gardens—now the MAC—in the spring.

“All of the players and coaches put a huge emphasis on this game and view it as something that can

bring fans back,” said Bowie. HOCO kicks off what will be a very intriguing year for the Bold on the ice, coming off a disappointing first-round exit at the hands of the University of Toronto Varsity Blues last winter.

With 21 returning players, four transfers and a handful of new recruits, the depth chart appears to be one that can make some noise in the OUA.

In second-year netminder Kai Edmonds, TMU arguably has one

“There’s a lot of buzz, belief and excitement from all the boys that we can actually do this,” said Bowie. “It’s going to be a special year, we’re gonna have our challenges but there’s definitely a lot of belief in the room.”

The gruelling journey for the Bold this season is set to kick off with a party at HOCO. With nationals looming at the end of the tunnel, this is only the beginning of what appears to be a thrilling and interesting year for TMU.

“We’re all very excited. The team this year is a little bit older, a little bit deeper than teams in the past,” added Gursoy. “Hopefully, all of that experience can help us get on a run that’ll put us in the history books.”

As a result of the event, HOCO provides a massive amount of excitement for the players. It breaks up what can be a very mundane stretch of preseason games, while also preparing them for regular season play.

“Sometimes, exhibition games can be long and gruelling. Having something in there that excites the guys that replicates the regular season environment is a nice touch,” said Duco.

“Everyone elevates their game when you have a big crowd like that”

“There’s a lot of buzz, belief and excitement from all the boys”

“Hopefully, all that experience can help us get on a run that’ll put us in the history books”

“It creates more excitement, helps you dial it in more and get ready to put on a show”

MATTHEW LIN/ THE EYEOPENER

MATTHEW LIN/THE EYEOPENER

MATTHEW LIN/THE EYEOPENER

How basketball brought a buzz to the city: GLOBL JAM’s return to Toronto

and they probably never would have [otherwise] because as a young person, it’s hard to make the senior roster,” said Deus. “When you get the opportunity to see some young, world-class talent, you want to go.”

Deus also noted that a limited number of people are able to watch an NBA game in Toronto because “tickets are not cheap.” Although, she believes while the price is more affordable for GLOBL JAM, basketball fans attended the event because of the sheer love of being downtown and the growing interest and love for the sport rather than simply affordability.

However, affordability and enthusiasm go hand-in-hand in making GLOBL JAM an attractive event to attend.

was a full-circle moment. Playing at the same venue his school team plays at, he felt like it was his home crowd.

“Having it at the venue of TMU, it just brought more variety to the school and the building,” he said. “I’m hoping that with my involvement it brings some more support to the TMU program for basketball and athletics in general.”

Rhooms believes that GLOBL JAM is only “going to get bigger from here.”

By Rob Vona

When walking under the Maple Leaf Gardens marquee sign at 50 Carlton St., one expects to see Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) students, athletes and fans bracing for another season.

However, this summer, the same seats that often feature students looking to unwind and enjoy a hockey game after a long day of school, transformed into seats that held a fiery crowd.

Instead, students and others alike unwound by taking in some of the best up-and-coming basketball products the world has to offer.

The Mattamy Athletic Centre (MAC) was the place to be for basketball in Toronto this summer as GLOBL JAM—the tournament that featured up-and-coming women’s and men’s basketball prospects representing their countries—made the MAC its home for the second year in a row.

The under-23-year-old (U23), five-on-five tournament ran from July 12-16. This year, some of the TMU Bold men’s basketball team took centre stage as four of their own played a role in Team Canada’s men’s squad.

Throughout the event, the MAC seats were filled to the brim with die-hard basketball fans from across North America. National Basketball Association (NBA) players Nickeil Alexander-Walker, RJ Barrett and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander were also some of those in attendance.

Aaron Rhooms, a third-year forward for the Bold, took part in his first GLOBL JAM event for Team Canada this year. He said it was an honour and a privilege to be able to don his country’s name across his chest.

“It’s a whole different feeling

when you’re representing your country,” Rhooms said. “It’s the first time I’ve been able to do that... it’s just a little different when you’re wearing that red and white.”

TMU’s representation didn’t stop on the court; multiple Bold basketball staff members were tapped to help Team Canada prepare for the tournament on the bench and behind the scenes.

Bold head coach David DeAveiro

the All-NBA First Team this past season.

Besides the high-level of basketball, the environment was unforgettable for the people involved. Deus noted that the event as a whole was electric, dubbing it a “whirlwind” and saying it was an experience unlike any other.

Rhooms also said some of Team Canada’s games featured sold-out crowds and that fans were very engaged in the games.

“It just shows how much the community is involved with Toronto basketball,” Rhooms said. “It shows how much they support the uprising of Canada basketball.”

The average cost for a ticket to

served as an assistant coach for Team Canada, while Bold assistant coach Aprille Deus was assigned the role of video coordinator for the team. The team’s student manager in logistics, Vincent Chu, also took part as an assistant coach with DeAveiro.

Although the four were tasked with vastly different roles, they all raved about the event.

“I haven’t really been a part of anything like that on that type of scale,” said Chu, who had previously been a part of Team Canada’s coaching staff in 2022.

Chu also mentioned the addition of the Kentucky Wildcats men’s basketball team—a team he has been watching for years—and the Louisville Cardinals women’s basketball team drew in a large crowd, bringing an energy to the building that feels way different than TMU Bold games.

The Kentucky Wildcats men’s basketball program has produced over 30 NBA draft picks over the last 10 years, the most by any National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division 1 school.

The program has also produced many Canadian basketball players throughout the last 120 years, including Kitchener, Ont. native and recent NBA Champion Jamal Murray and Hamilton, Ont. product Gilgeous-Alexander, who made

The event resulted in both the men’s and women’s Canadian teams finishing in second place, with the men’s team losing to Kentucky and the women losing to Louisville, both of whom were representing Team USA.

In spite of placing second, the experience was still positive nonetheless for all TMU Bold members that were involved.

“It’s surreal in the sense that you have these under-23 kids playing their hearts out for Team Canada

watch a Toronto Raptors game is around $154, according to The National Post. For the same price as a Raptors game, fans could have secured tickets to all 16 games at GLOBL JAM—including the men’s and women’s gold medal games— according to their website.

“Usually when you want to watch high-level basketball you’re watching the Raptors, we understand how expensive tickets can be sometimes or how busy it gets so they sell out, so to have something like this...you’re getting to watch highlevel NCAA basketball,” said Chu.

Chu describes GLOBL JAM as an event for the city catering to the basketball community. He encourages more people to attend in the future because “it’s a chance to support our guys, watch some highlevel basketball and just be a fan.”

Rhooms said for him, the event

However, the real impact was the one off the court. The event’s unique identity and dynamic are beginning to bring people in from more than just Toronto. “You saw people come from all over the place, it was an opportunity for everyone to be a part of something,” Chu said.

After the tournament had concluded, DeAveiro mentioned the atmosphere was much better than last year and Canada Basketball did a great job at promoting the event. “I look forward to next year’s games already,” he said.

Deus added to that notion as she believes the event is “here to stay.”

“When it comes to GLOBL JAM, I would rather be an early adopter than a late one,” Deus joked. “You want to be able to be there and say ‘I was a part of history.’”

While the MAC has already converted back to its original site for TMU Bold home games, the city awaits the announcement of a 2024 GLOBL JAM that—if it returns for a third year—is sure to feature world-class U23 basketball talent yet again, only this time bigger and better.

“It’s just a chance to support our guys, watch some high-level basketball and just be a fan”

“It’s a whole different feeling when you’re representing your country”

“When it comes to GLOBL JAM, I would rather be an early adopter rather than a late one”

CURTIS MARTIN/THE EYEOPENER

CURTIS MARTIN/THE EYEOPENER

“When you get the opportunity to see some young, world-class talent, you want to go”

The journey to graduation: Fourth-year students share their concerns

By Mariyah Salhia

As Toronto Metropolitan University’s (TMU) class of 2027 start their first year with nearly as many inperson orientation events as before the pandemic, the outgoing class of 2024 has mixed feelings about going into their final year.

For many people graduating this coming the spring and fall, the first year of post-secondary education started and ended in the confines of Zoom.

With campus bustling with networking events, welcoming booths and student mixers, some graduating students’ final year on campus feels like their first.

While some students feel like they’ve gotten the most out of their experience on campus, others feel like their faculties haven’t done enough to ensure that upper-year students catch up from their time online.

Marilyn Saad, a fourth-year child and youth care student, says that although she’s getting her degree in July, she still feels like she’s in high school.

“There was no transition from high school to university at all,” she says. “I entered twelfth grade and that chapter never closed.”

Moving into an online university after her online graduation meant there was nothing to mark the accomplishment of moving into a new part of her life, and for Saad, that’s been one of the most difficult parts due to the change from highschool to university.

Saad says this lack of transition led to her feeling like high school had never ended.

“It feels like I was never a university student at all,” she says. “Even when things went back to ‘normal’ and I visited campus, there was no feeling of ‘Oh, I’m a university student now.’”

A 2023 study from the Central South University in Changsha, China looked at students who were pushed into online learning when the pandemic started and how it affected their overall mental health, physical health and interpersonal relationships. Over 90 per cent of respondents said distance learning had hindered their interpersonal relationships, both inside the classroom and out.

“It does feel bittersweet because I’m a little jealous,” she says. “It’s so unfair, like you get four full years of being on campus.”

they didn’t realize were hurt.

Erwin Lau, a fourth-year performance production student and the president of the Society of The Creative School, says even though he’s lucky enough to have a job lined up right after graduation, the sense of community in his program has helped him feel good about moving into the professional world.

For him, being part of student groups like The Society of the Creative school has helped him meet people from outside his program.

“I think if I didn’t look for the society, I don’t think I’d ever know where society exists and know people outside of my [program].”

ing those internships and working in industry or volunteering at certain events,conferences and attending events.”

While Saad says she’s excited to graduate and move on to law school, she can’t help the feeling of disappointment when she sees firstyear students having the experiences she missed out on.

Now, Saad says she feels like her faculty hasn’t done enough to foster a supportive community.

“There’s no dedicated space and a lot of the classes are still online, there are people in my program that I’ve never met.”

She says she never expected to feel this disconnected from her classmates this far into her program.

Saad, who works for the TriMentoring program at TMU, says in her position last year as the lead mentor for the faculty of community services, she was matching lower-year students to upper-year mentors. A frequent concern she’d hear from students was about feeling a lack of community on campus.

Lau says he was lucky enough to move from a fully online course load to in-person labs at the beginning of his second year, and meeting people in person was a little strange.

“Knowing people outside of the little Zoom square, knowing their actual height, that’s mind blowing! Some people are taller than I thought, some people are shorter than I thought,” he says. “But it took me some time to adapt.”

Marie Crosta, the director of academic planning and student affairs at The Creative School, says stress associated with graduation isn’t a new phenomenon for TMU students, but she has seen some general stressors that have changed since the pandemic.

“I don’t think I’d ever know where society exists and know people outside of my [program]”

While Lau says The Creative School has a lot of resources available to students, like career advisors and internship coordinators, who can help students prepare for life outside the classroom, he says the programs being underpromoted contributes to graduation stress.

“How do you really ensure that you are making the most out of the network”

“Most of them are answering [the entry questionnaire] saying that they just don’t have any clue what’s going on,” she says, “Which makes sense because you’re in your first year, you don’t know what’s going on. But also most of them are looking for that sense of belonging. You know what I mean?”

Many of her mentors who had spent their first year online, offering advice on finding a sense of community on campus, felt like they were healing a part of themselves that

In his program, Lau says the builtin industry experience has prepared him to move into his industry professionally. However, as the president of the Society of The Creative School, he knows that isn’t the case for all students.

While his time on campus has been full of hands-on experiences and a close community of classmates, he feels some of the resources that have helped him feel that way are under promoted.

Lau says being in a program as small as his, where he estimates his graduating class to be between 20 to 30 students, that his class feels so close-knit that they’ve become closed-off from other people in the faculty.

“In general, we always hear [about] the imposter syndrome feeling that students have as they’re exiting,” she said, “I definitely think that students felt, ‘did I get enough of the education not being able to utilize the tools and the facilities that we have?’ Absolutely, we’ve heard it.”

But Crosta says students should be working to maximize their time on campus.

“In general, we always hear [about] the imposter syndrome feeling that students have as they’re exiting”

“How do you really ensure that you are making the most out of the network?” she says.

“Making the most of the network being your instructors, who could then launch you into your career, if you have those relationships, and they have that ability to connect you with others, complet-

“I didn’t know about some of these resources until two weeks ago,” he says. However, Lau says the programs being understaffed can discourage students from taking advantage of helpful career advice.

While Saad and Lau have had very different experiences of campus, Saad agrees that more needs to be done to help students feel a better sense of community on campus.

“I didn’t know about some of these resources until two weeks ago”

In her work at the Tri-Mentoring program, Saad tried to work to create a communal space for students in her program, which she thinks would help students build closer relationships with each other.

While the prospect of students having this resource when she’s on her way out is bittersweet.

She looks forward to her faculty working harder to support a stronger student community.

“I entered twelfth grade and that chapter never closed”

“It’s so unfair, like you get four full years of being on campus”

“Most of them are looking for that sense of belonging”

“Knowing people outside of the little Zoom square, knowing their actual height, that’s mind blowing”

Some soon-to-graduate TMU students say their faculties can be doing more to help maximize their time on campus

BRITHI SEHRA/THE EYEOPENER

AI’s growing popularity in academic studies Transit Technology Innovations

By Jake MacAndrew

As Toronto’s population continues to grow, so does the city’s transit infrastructure. Here are three innovations to Toronto transit infrastructure that are modernizing the way Torontonians move.

Green Tracks Come To Line 5:

By Krishika Jethani

As the use of artificial intelligence (AI) writing and design tools grows within Canadian schools, experts are left debating the positives and negatives of this software usage.

A popular AI tool used for generated writing is ChatGPT. Software company OpenAI released ChatGPT on Nov. 30, 2022 and it has since grown in popularity and intelligence, according to the company’s website. When prompted with the question “What is ChatGPT?,” the AI tool automatically responds, “ChatGPT is a type of artificial intelligence model designed for natural language processing and understanding…GPT models are trained on vast amounts of text data from the internet and are capable of generating human-like text and responding to text inputs.”

ChatGPT is not connected to the internet, according to the OpenAI website. Therefore, the information on the software has not been updated since 2021 and relies on the information initially downloaded to the platform, its trained skills on human demonstrations and preference comparisons to guide its answers.

Jonathan Schaeffer, a professor in the department of computing science at the University of Alberta, said ChatGPT is more advanced than previous AI tools.

“We’ve seen predecessors to ChatGPT come along and they’ve been okay, but I have to confess that when ChatGPT came out in [2022], I was blown away because it was and is far better than I ever expected it to be,” said Schaeffer.

“From an AI point of view, this represents an incredible advance. Yes, it has its problems, it’s not perfect, but know that there’s a lot of money going into this field and you will see

these problems gradually be eliminated. We will have programs that can converse and interact with humans in ways that were unimaginable even two years ago.”

A survey conducted this year by professional services network KPMG showed one in five Canadians used artificial intelligence tools to help them complete their work and school assignments. 52 per cent of students over 18 years-old have used AI to complete their work or pass exams. 90 per cent of students said AI helped them improve the quality of their work, while 70 per cent said their grades improved.

doing all the work for the students and they become lazy and don’t put any effort into understanding the course content.”

Furthermore, KPMG’s survey showed 70 per cent of Generation Z—those born from the late 1990s to the early 2000s—“sometimes” or “always” claimed generated content as their own work.

According to Toronto Metropolitan University’s (TMU) Academic Integrity Office, the school’s policy on plagiarism is regularly under review to address “new realities.”

JERRY ZHANG/THE EYEOPENER

Instead of focusing on the negative, Eliasmith said students should see AI tools as an advancement, something that will only get better.

“When [the calculator] first showed up, people were very concerned that kids wouldn’t learn any math anymore because the calculator would be doing everything for them,” he added. “Of course, it turned out to not be true…it’s definitely an interesting time of trying to figure out exactly that kind of thing.”

e long-awaited Eglinton Crosstown Light Rail Transit line is expected to open in 2024, according to Metrolinx—the project’s manager. e transit line along Eglinton Avenue will feature grass planted in the tracks for sections of the street-level portion of the line. According to Metrolinx, the added foliage is environmentally friendly as the grass cools the temperature around the transit line, dampens sound and minimizes the spread of dust.

Ontario Line Automation:

Schaeffer added that students who have not understood a concept correctly during a lecture can use ChatGPT to get a further explanation. Instructors can also use it to add more examples to their lectures, he explained.

On the program, a simple prompt as to what the key principles of design are generates a list of simplified explanations that are easy to understand.

“I see ChatGPT as being a way that I can actually improve the quality of what I teach and students can use the same technology to help them improve and verify that they really do understand the concepts that are being taught,” Schaeffer said.

Chris Eliasmith, director of theoretical neuroscience at the University of Waterloo, believes there is a “pessimistic” and “optimistic” answer to AI generators.

“[It] lets students focus on the interesting, more challenging abstract ideas that are typically part of a course curriculum,” said Eliasmith. “The pessimistic view is that AI is basically

“Our current policy...defines plagiarism through a number of examples, one of which states that plagiarism is ‘claiming, submitting, or presenting the words, ideas, artistry, drawings, images, or data of another person, including information found on the Internet and unpublished materials, as if they are one’s own, without appropriate referencing,’” said Allyson Miller, director of the Academic Integrity Office in an email to The Eyeopener. “While ChatGPT is not ‘another person,’ our policy is clear that the examples are non-exhaustive.”

Adrian Ma, undergraduate program director and assistant professor at TMU’s School of Journalism, acknowledged others initially thought the use of ChatGPT as cheating but he realized there are more “exciting parts” to the software.

“In my mind it really inspired me to look at education from the perspective of how could ChatGPT be used to enhance the experience to perhaps make things a bit easier and more accessible for students?” said Ma. “If we’re trying to teach them how to come up with a 2000 word paper without necessarily having them need to apply a lot of critical thinking to with it, I think it opens up a lot of exciting possibilities for learning.”

Golam Rabbani, assistant professor in the department of creative industries at TMU experienced an increased usage of ChatGPT in both undergraduate and graduate level classes.

Although the tools might encourage plagiarism for writing-intensive courses, in a discipline like creative industries, including many handson experiences, students need different kinds of ideas, he explained.

“ChatGPT produces ideas and the students decide whether that idea is relevant or not given the context of an assignment and they can later deny that idea and bring something new…if you think positively, incorporating ChatGPT into courses is actually making [students] more efficient in their work,” said Rabbani.

ChatGPT’s growing population is hard to predict but individuals are hopeful for the positive outcome it may leave on the education system.

“It makes the whole cognitive practices that students are supposed to have in an academic level...by itself,” said Rabbani. “So students need to go beyond that and do something new to have another level of academic excellence .”

e Ontario Line is a new subway route set to connect Exhibition Place to the Ontario Science Centre. e line will run through downtown, the east end and North York, providing transit relief for many communities. Scheduled to open in 2031, the line will feature fully automated trains running as frequently as every 90 seconds, according to Metrolinx. Recently released station renderings also show platform edge doors. Currently, no Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) subway stations feature screen doors blocking riders from accessing the tracks—a safety feature common in other metropolitan subway systems such as London’s “Tube.” In June 2023, the TTC announced platform barriers will be installed at select stations, with construction starting in 2024.

Tap With Card to Pay for PRESTO:

Riders can now pay with their credit or debit card on Toronto transit as PRESTO—the carrier of payment transactions on many GTA transit systems—completed its’ integration of credit and debit payment transactions on GO Trains in May 2023 and nally last month on TTC vehicles. Although many credit cards o er discounted fares or bonus reward points for a limited time, always verify if the bonuses outweigh the cost of a student fare. Sometimes, the student fare is still a better deal than o ers on adult fares.

“ChatGPT produces ideas and the students decide whether that idea is relevant or not”

“[It] lets students focus on the interesting, more challenging abstract ideas”

Experts refect on the benefts and downsides of tools like ChatGPT

Jealousy, jealousy: An ode to how this year’s orientation struck a nerve

doesn’t really scream, “Welcome to the next chapter of your life! Time waits for no one! It will go by in a blink, you’ll never see it coming!” Honestly, learning anything about the program or the university was just secondary to me—if that.

By Khushy Vashisht

It’s been a long four months since we’d last been on campus. As soon as we walked in, my friends and I looked around and muttered half-sarcastic, half-serious (mostly serious) remarks.

“Oh… so this is what it must feel like to get a normal university welcome,” I murmured while watching people faceplant onto the giant obstacle course set up in the quad.

Meanwhile, my friend Zoha only cared about what the different booths offered: “Let’s just go get free shit.” As if any of us needed any more pins, pens or tumblers.

Then, right after, we reminisced about our own orientation two years ago—and immediately began to complain.

It was a muggy, August morning in 2021. After waking up at the

brink of dawn—12 p.m.—I dragged myself out of bed and three feet over to my desk to start my first year of journalism at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU): Zoom edition.

We were in the middle of one of the COVID-19 pandemic’s most prominent waves and orientation events hosted by TMU were basically all online. It was clear that this current “new normal” wasn’t changing anytime soon.

In a way, it was a good thing. I could scope out any potential hotties who actually dared to have their camera on—I was not one of them—dissect people’s personalities from the pixelated makings of their bedroom in the background and ultimately just not give a shit.

As I wondered out loud, “Where did we get the budget to do all this,” my friends were too busy scarfing down whatever was being served by the Toronto Metropolitan Students’ Union (TMSU) tables. Once one of them finally came up for air, they pointed out that our tuition was probably being spent more on this than campus safety measures.

ling paired with everyone leaving as soon as their class ends doesn’t really provide stellar moments to strike up a conversation with anyone other than your teaching assistant. Now imagine having to go through that with limited and delayed in-person experiences. It only further shows the lack of the “typical university experience” we received. It didn’t take long for resentment to build up against the younger years that somehow all looked older than me.

and most importantly, closure. What did I get? Not even graduation pictures. Sue me for wanting to be them for just a little while. Nothing felt more upsetting than watching first-years pelt each other in the face with water balloons. There’s a list of people I know now that I’d personally be aiming for.

I know I should be happy for them but apparently I’m a certified hater from birth and it’s hard to see people get the things that should have been mine too. So, I will continue to sulk and wish I had the typical welcoming into university life, let alone ideal!

See, I always thought I was okay with the journalism department’s valiant efforts to host an engaging introduction to the next four years of our lives. I mean, hearing someone chat on the phone over their unmuted mic and having the presenter go a good 10 minutes of talking before realizing they haven’t shared their screen really makes up for the in-person human experience. Two years later, however, and I think I’ve finally snapped. Being a commuter student is hard enough—even today’s freshmen know that. The exhaustion of travel-

Listen, I love any kind of freebie I can get my hands on—this year’s freshmen had it all. From food, drinks and clothes to bouncy castles—yes, I do, in fact, care about bouncy castles at my grown age—and even handing out Google Pixels to students??? Bitterness seeped right into my body from the free coffee being handed out. There was only one thing left to do: pretend I’m the same dimwitted first-year student I was in 2021 and live vicariously through the actual first years…which was not so different from the last year or so. I mean, they got senior prom, a high school graduation ceremony

But hey! Once the fake pleasantries of orientation week wears off and all the upper-years stop pretending like they actually like the university and its downtown-core campus, I don’t think it’ll take long for reality to kick in. I don’t know what’ll burst their bubble and bring them right back to the ground, the commute to an 8 a.m. class or the very real possibility of some stranger from the street getting into any of their buildings. Welcome to TMU, first-years! Sooner rather than later, you’ll find out how much this place sucks.

Quiz: Which unhealthy back-to-school habit are you?

By Parker Theis

Whether you’ve waited all summer for school to start again or you’re already daydreaming about the end of spring, we all cope with the return to school differently. Start this school year off on the right track by taking this quiz and discovering which unhealthy back-to-school habit you are!

Disclaimer: This quiz will not tell you how to break your unhealthy habits. Acceptance is the first step to changing your patterns, gain insight into your coping mechanisms and delve into the recesses of your student subconscious below.

It’s the last week of summer. How are you preparing to go back to school?

A. I am frantically emailing my academic advisor to try and get into a class last minute.

B. I am buying all new school clothes. New year, new me!

C. Wait, school starts next week?

D. I am mentally or physically still on vacation and will probably miss the first day.

What kind of fit are you wearing on the very first day?

A. Something comfortable and casual, like a simple bodysuit or

Watching people read off the screen as I’m zoning out in my pajamas while spinning in my chair fancy joggers.

B. I am bringing it! I’m sporting a brand new outfit and shoes for me to look and feel my best.

C. Whatever I have that’s clean.

D. It’s still 30 degrees outside, I’m wearing a bathing suit under my clothes.

Your professor has asked you if you’ve read the syllabus before coming to class. Have you?

A. I glanced at it on the commute to campus.

B. Nooooo… but I made a playlist romanticizing the course title!

C. No, are we being quizzed on it?

D. I switched tabs to skim it 0.2 seconds after they asked.

Which room do you spend most of your time in at home?

A. In the kitchen, it’s the easiest room to multitask in.

B. The bathroom, I’ve finished several movies on the toilet.

C. My bedroom, how else would I get seven hours of sleep?

D. In front of the TV, have you watched the latest season of Too Hot to Handle?

What’s your go-to campus meal?

A. An energy drink, maybe a Nature Valley granola bar.

B. Anything at Oakham Cafe so I can people watch while eating.

C. I’d rather eat at home so no one can ask for just ‘’one’’ fry.

D. A campus Chipotle bowl, a large Coke and chips with queso on the side.

You’ve been let out from your three-hour lecture because your professor had a dentist appointment. She says that you should stay in class and work on your upcoming project. What are you doing now?

A. I’ll probably start planning out what I want to do so I can have the weekend free.

B. I’m chatting with my friends and figuring out what our weekend plans are.

C. I took a mental health day so I’m not even on campus.

D. I left IMMEDIATELY, why bother sticking around?

Which color folder do you associate with math?

A. Green

B. Red

C. Blue

D. Yellow

How do you respond when someone in class asks you if they can borrow your notes?

A. Here! No problem, sorry about my handwriting!

B. OMG OF COURSE! Don’t you love the elegance of my multicoloured iPad notes?

C. You don’t have them either?

D. Sorry, I’m pretty sure I only have the ones from the first week, back when I still cared.

“Where did we get the budget to do all this?”

“I’m a certifed hater from birth”

“Sue me for wanting to be them for just a little while”

JERRY ZHANG/THE EYEOPENER

JERRY ZHANG/THE EYEOPENER